I’ve got a Saiga .223 project gun that I’m working on now, it has been on the back burner, getting bits and pieces done to it over time. It is going to be my “Race AK”. See, I’ve long had a thing for using AKs in competiton, just to be the odd man out. I’ve used lots of ARs too, and I do well with them, but there is something fun about doing good with a rifle that nobody sees coming.

So I’ve got a Saiga that does about 1 MOA with good ammo. It has an Ultimak and I’m going to run a dot on top (not decided which yet). It is currently at my friend Mike Bond’s (master machinist) who is finishing up the custom aluminum handguard.

Front sight has been removed. I’ve got a couple pieces of picatinny rail that are going on the handguard, one on the side for iron sights (probably the JP pistol sights), 3gun style, and because I’ve never seen anybody do that with an AK before. I can even switch it up and go with a low magnification scout scope, just to try.

I’ve had it threaded AR pitch, and I’m going to run either a Cooley brake or a PWS brake/flash hider. I can also run a suppresor on it if I want.

I’ve not done trigger group, stock, or grip yet. I’ll probably do an Ergo grip, because that’s what I’ve got on my Saiga 12 as well as most of my ARs. The stock… haven’t decided, but I like to run them short, but I like a wide footprint (so I hate the traditional stock), as I shoot real hunched up (especially for a big dude). Trigger will probably be Red Star.

I hadn’t bought any mags yet, as I don’t have a .223 AK, my others are 7.62×39, and I’ve been procrastinating. But if this adapter functions good, I’ve got plenty of AR mags. That would be sweet.

.223 AKs are fun to shoot. The do bounce more than an AR, but it is a strange difference. Once you get used to it, you can keep the sights on target and run them like a jackhammer. Plus I can practice with the cheapest steel-cased crap in the world (not that anything is cheap anymore) and not worry about it.

Now the moron from the last post would call this polishing a terd. Ironically, when I’m done, I’ll have a gun that A. is still cheaper than his stupid gun. B. I can outshoot him with. (but then again, I could do that with a rusty Marlin camp carbine, so that’s not saying much).

The last time I shot 3gun (January, because I suck, was unemployed for 3 months, and didn’t want to dip into my ammo stash) I used my DSA middy AR with the fluted barrel. It has run flawlessly, but I had a 1-4X scope on it in medium height rings, but it still has the regular front sight. The medium rings put the scope a little too low, so on the close and fast when I turned it down to 1X, the bottom half of my view was black. I hate that. On 4X it is fine, but I find 4X way too much for any of the run and gun stuff.

So that’s why this one is going to have the sights on the side. I tried a JP demo gun out once with that set up, (4X Trijicon on top, irons on the side) and it was remarkably fast. From bad breath to way out there, all you have to do is lift your wrist a few degrees. So right now I’m inclined toward a long eye relief 3X or so on top, with irons on the side of the aluminum tube. Lots of folks are running Doctor red dots on the side, and I may give that a try just to see how I like it.

If this Magnolia State adapter works, that would be that much cooler.

Oh, and when I’m done, I’m going to ugly it up a little. Maybe do a Krylon camo job at home, stick some black electrical tape on it like that’s holding something together… Mind games baby. The first time Nightcrawler saw my gun collection, he said, “I kind of thought that you’d have something that looked nice.” I’ve got this one FAL that has been completely rebuilt by one of the best FAL smiths out there, runs like a sewing machine, and I left the Century thumbhole stock on, just to make it look cheap. Same thing with my Vepr. It has a homemade wooden stock. And I don’t know how to do wordwork, so it is hideous bad ugly, and the gaps are filled in with unsanded putty. At one point I made a tac sling for it out of black elecrical tape and 550 cord.

But that makes beating the guy who’s bragging about his super fancy uber-gun that much sweeter.

I can’t believe that it’s been 6 months since I’ve last competed. The 3 years I spent at the gun store killed my free time. I used to try to shoot at least once a week. But now I’ve got the discretionary budget, and wifely permission to get back out there. I’m so going to get spanked.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA…. I couldn’t resist. This actually sounds great. If the adapter works, and Saigas ever come down to a reasonable price (for me), I might get one.

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Jkimball

7 years 5 months ago

Congrats on getting back into competition. I think it has been over a year since I last did it, due to budget constraints. But I was just at udpl.net (had to see how you did for New Years) and I saw a .22LR only match coming up. That sounds like it could be a lot of fun without breaking the bank.

I can appreciate your custom tac sling. I once made a sling for my marlin 60 out of some duct tape, a key ring, and a dog leash.

I don’t remember where I came in at the New Year’s match. I had a heck of a time. It had been awhile, and I felt all creaky and slow. Then I broke an ejector on my 1911 (and it still worked 95% of the time), and my shotgun had nothing but problems.

And it was still a lot of fun.

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Curly

7 years 5 months ago

You would be very pleased with the Aimpoint T1 red-dot-sight on a LaRue Tactical base. IMHO anything else is inferior. Now that you’re rolling in the big bucks you can afford it. I’d even let you try mine out before you jump for one. Then we can discuss in person why RDS is superior to variable power scopes starting at 1x or 1.5x.

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D

4 years 11 months ago

Hey Larry, how did this end up for you? It’s like 2 years old, but I ran into this searching for that AK / AR mag conversion for a saiga… curious if you ever got this project going and how it ran for you.

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